By: Michael Minnich
Mineral Daily News Tribune
AAA No. 1 Martinsburg (3-0) at Spring Mills (1-2), Friday, 7 p.m.
In a battle of early undefeateds, Martinsburg was king against Princeton, posting a 60-0 blowout win.
Tyson Bagent threw for three touchdowns for the Bulldogs, who are tied for first with Huntington in the WVSSAC playoff rankings, released for the first time this week.
Spring Mills earned its first win of the season last week against Hampshire, 41-21.
Demetreus Jalepes returned to the lineup in a big way, racking up 202 yards and three touchdowns.
Martinsburg cruised to a 40-0 win in this series last year.
Class AAA No. 3 Morgantown (3-0) at Washington (0-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Washington’s woes continued: the Patriots have allowed 172 points, the most in the state regardless of class, after a 71-13 loss at Sherando last week.
They play the third-most prolific offense in AAA this week in Morgantown, who scored 31 of their 126 points in a 31-19 win over Parkersburg South last week, the only game where they’ve conceded any scoring.
The Mohigans are fifth in the SSAC rankings.
Class A No. 3 East Hardy (2-0) at Pocahontas County (1-2), Friday, 7 p.m.
East Hardy, which is No. 1 in the SSAC rankings this week, comes off of their bye against a Pocahontas County team that will be playing their home opener.
Pendleton County got the best of Pocahontas last week, 34-12, after Pocahontas played Moorefield tough, 21-14, the week before.
East Hardy won last year’s game, 28-20.
Class A No. 4 Moorefield (3-0) at Tucker County (1-2), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Moorefield left it late against Southern Garrett (Md.) last week, but Sloan Williams’ 12-yard TD pass to Varsey Bright and two-point conversion toss to Logan Mongold with 2:36 left carried the Jackets to an 8-7 win.
Moorefield, third in the SSAC rankings this week, was held to 90 yards rushing on 28 carries.
Tucker County fell at Northern Garrett (Md.) by a 33-14 score last week following their 32-18 win at Tygarts Valley.
Moorefield won last year’s game, 56-13.
Class AA No. 9 Keyser (2-1) at Class AA No. 5 Weir (3-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
Keyser was never really in it last week, losing a 41-0 payback game to three-time defending Maryland 1A champion Fort Hill, avenging the Sentinels’ only loss during that run, 48-41 last year.
In a very competitive Class AA, even a 2-1 Golden Tornado team is out of the playoffs as things stand now in a tie for 18th (their 6.0 points would get them in the AAA playoffs right now, incidentally).
So, in the midst of a difficult stretch of games, this week at Weir, which is tied for sixth in the SSAC rankings, is pivotal.
Weir has allowed only 12 points, tied for second-stingiest in AA, and defeated John Marshall last week, 15-6.
The two schools have not met since the quarterfinals of the 1997 AA playoffs, when Quincy Wilson led Weir to a 43-18 victory.
Greenbrier East (2-1) at Class AAA No. 10 Musselman (2-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Musselman hasn’t lost a game in-state, and it has a fourth-quarter burst against Jefferson to thank for that.
Latrell Warr ran for two straight scores to start the process of toppling a 15-13 deficit and finished with 132 yards and four scores as the Appleman found the end zone four times in 3:07 to win 40-15.
Greenbrier East has won two in a row, including a 33-7 result against Preston last week.
The two schools are part of a four-way tie for seventh in the SSAC rankings.
Musselman won last year’s game, 31-27.
Jefferson (0-2) at Hedgesville (2-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Having already exceeded its one win from 2015 and 2014 combined, Hedgesville looks to take another major step forward on Friday.
The Eagles, 12th in the SSAC rankings, rallied from a 13-0 first-half deficit and a 19-7 halftime hole to win at Mountain Ridge (Md.) last week, 28-25.
A fumble, plus the rushing of Gavin Smoot set up Jason Plotner’s winning score in the fourth quarter.
Jefferson saw a two-point lead evaporate in a big way against Musselman last week, allowing four touchdowns in the span of 3:07 in the fourth quarter of a 40-15 loss.
Isaac Myers threw for 155 yards and a touchdown and ran for 75 more yards in the loss, while Jeremy Beach added 131 yards and a score on the ground.
Jefferson won last year’s game, 61-7.
Frankfort (1-2) at Berkeley Springs (1-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
The Friday nights were later than usual, but both of these teams were happy to pick up their first wins last week.
Frankfort’s game against Robert C. Byrd was delayed 85 minutes at halftime due to lightning, but a late stop followed by a 79-yard touchdown pass from Carter Houdersheldt to Nate Strietbeck preserved a 24-7 victory for FHS, also its first under interim coach Craig Scott.
Strietbeck scored a rushing TD as well, and Houdersheldt finished 11 for 13 for 217 yards.
Meanwhile, Berkeley Springs traveled all the way to Ritchie County and built a quick 39-0 halftime lead in a 39-20 win.
Michael Hovermale scored a pair of rushing TD’s, while Hunter Andrick, Josh Hartman, and Tanner Clark also found the end zone.
Both schools are currently outside of the playoff picture: Frankfort is 24th and Berkeley Springs tied for 25th.
Frankfort won last year’s meeting in overtime, 34-32.
Southern Garrett, Md. (0-2) at Petersburg (1-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Petersburg comes off of a bye, while Southern will be keen to get in the win column after last week’s 8-7 near-miss against Moorefield.
The Vikings are 23rd in the SSAC rankings this week.
BYE: Hampshire (0-3) fell at Spring Mills last week, 41-21.